2 8 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • A P R I L 2 0 2 0
Case volumes at
the Greenwood
(S.C.) Endoscopy
Center have been
significantly
impacted by the
coronavirus. "On a
typical day, we
were doing 44 or
45 procedures,
and now we're doing maybe seven to 10," says Laura Young, RN,
the facility's director of nursing.
With reductions like that, the facility had no choice but to cut
back its schedule and close down altogether on some days. Still,
the center's physician-owners took measures to give staff some
peace of mind by committing to cover everyone's full pay for two
weeks.
Ms. Young is also using this slow period to assign tasks in an
effort to keep everyone busy — and morale high. "I have nurses
deep cleaning and sanitizing rooms, doing a deeper clean than our
regular cleaning crew would do," says Ms. Young. "Other staff
members are reorganizing storage cabinets and checking for out-
dated supplies."
Some clinical staff are even using the time to focus on continu-
ing education. "Our physicians are starting a research program,
so we're training some members of our staff on what they can do
for the project," says Ms. Young. "These nurses will be doing
• NEW ROLES Staff at the Greenwood (S.C.) Endoscopy Center have used the shutdown
to catch up on research and clean.
F O R G I N G A H E A D
Still Plenty to Do Without Patients
Laura
Young,
RN
